the swing

INXS had great expectations as they faced the change and took their new wave funk rock fusion into never never land with this mercurial dance pop crucible.  Their previous album 'Shabooh Shoobah' had broken the band in the US; leading to a tour with Men At Work.  It was backstage after a show in Toronto that the band met Nile Rodgers, who arranged a recording session at New York's  Power Station studio.  Michael Hutchence would recount:    "Nile said we should get together for a jam. We said 'good!'. Well, he said, 'if we're going to do that, let's record it'. We said 'yeah!'  In fact, he went on, 'if we're going to record it, we might as well record it properly'. 'OK!' we said...Nile's one of the most inspirational musicians I've ever met. He's so damned exuberant.  You don't even know you're making a record.  It's more like you're having a party."

The session also included Daryl Hall on backing vocals.  Tim Farris remembers:    "The whole recording session was fantastic, Nile likes to let things just happen. It only took two takes. We thought we were just jamming so Nile and the engineer (Jason Corsaro) could get sound levels, and when we were finished he said 'OK, we've got a take!'"

The remainder of the album was recorded with producer Nick Launay in Oxfordshire, England at The Manor; and in Australia at Rhinoceros, Paradise and Emerald City Studios.  The sessions featured Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar;  Andrew Farriss on guitar and keyboards;  Jon Farriss on percussion and drums;  Tim Farriss on guitar;  Michael Hutchence on vocals;  and Kirk Pengilly on guitar, saxophone, vocals, and photography;   with string arrangements by Phillip Mortlock and William Motzing;  and backing vocals by Sherine Abeyratne, Andrew Duffield, Kim Liat Edwards, Sean Kelly, Norma Lewis, Jenny Morris, Frank Simms, and David Spinner.      Launay considers:   "Recording 'The Swing' was an exhausting, stressed, amazing time.  The band drew from so many cool places.  It was all recorded live, as albums should be - done half at the Manor and half in Sydney - and you can hear the result, which was literally half winter and half summer. I think it says so much about INXS, that they put out an album with one song 'Original Sin' done with Nile Rodgers, the top producer of the day, and one of the greatest funk guitar players of all time, while the rest of the album was produced by me, the guy known for working with the most left-of-center dark alternative bands.  That's just weird.  And that's just great. And that's how they continued to do things."  


'The Swing' swung to number fifty-two in the US, thirty-seven in the Netherlands, twenty-seven in Canada, six in New Zealand, and number one in Australia.  The album went five times platinum in Australia and won numerous awards there including Album Of The Year.

http://inxs.com/

"Original Sin" was mistaken for a song about interracial love and courted controversy as radio stations and the band received death threats over it.  Hutchence reveals the inspiration for the lyrics:  "We were in Buffalo or somewhere, outside a gig waiting for the soundcheck, and I was just looking at kids playing - you know, blacks, whites, and Hispanics in this mixed neighbourhood.  And I just thought, they're gonna  lose their dreams - everyday they wake up, another reality is forced on them, and they're having a great time until they're told 'this is a sin,' they didn't know yet that they were being conditioned...It was written quite innocently, I didn't expect people to even really take notice."   While it was banned in many places in the US, it made it to number fifty-eight on the US pop chart.  It fared better around the world, going to thirty-one in the Netherlands; twenty in Canada; six in New Zealand; and number one in Australia, Argentina, France, and Italy.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTULqzrhBWA


You might know of the original sin
And you might know how to play with fire
But did you know of the murder committed
In the name of love you thought what a pity

Dream on white boy
Dream on black girl
Then wake up to a brand new day
To find your dreams are washed away

There was a time when I did not care
And there was a time when the facts did stand
There is a dream and held by me
Well I'm sure you had to see it's up in arms

Dream on white boy
Dream on black girl
Then wake up to a brand new day
To find your dreams have washed away

You might know of the original sin
And you might know how to play with fire
But did you know of the murder committed
In the name of love you thought what a pity

Dream on white boy
Dream on black girl
Then wake up to a brand new day
Dream on black boy
Dream on white girl
Then wake up to a brand new day
Dream on black boy
Dream on white girl
Then wake up to a brand new day
To find your dreams are washed away

Dream on, to play with fire
White boy, black girl
Dream on, in the name of love
Black boy, white girl
White boy, black girl
Black boy, white girl

Dream on
The name of love, yeah
You thought what a pity


Original sin




"I Send a Message" was received at eighteen in New Zealand and three in Australia.  





"Burn for You" sizzled at thirty-nine in New Zealand and three in Australia.  




"Dancing on the Jetty" argued with itself at number thirty-nine on the Australian chart.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR8Dh_495Js




"Melting in the Sun"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UimNJSga-0




"Love Is (What I Say)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H19JyoQwgF0




"All the Voices"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLNmHSHZTqA






'The Swing'
full album:  




1. "Original Sin"  (Andrew Farriss, Michael Hutchence)  5:19 
2. "Melting in the Sun" (Tim Farriss, Jon Farriss, Hutchence) 3:25
3. "I Send a Message"   3:24  (A. Farriss, Hutchence)
4. "Dancing on the Jetty"  (A. Farriss, Hutchence) 4:34
5. "The Swing" (Garry Gary Beers, A. Farriss, T. Farriss, Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly) 3:52
6. "Johnson's Aeroplane" (A. Farriss) 3:53
7. "Love Is (What I Say)" (Beers, A. Farriss, Hutchence, Pengilly, Anthony Braxton-Smith) 3:42
8. "Face the Change" (A. Farriss, Hutchence, Pengilly) 3:34
9. "Burn for You"   (A. Farriss, Hutchence) 4:59
10. "All the Voices"   (A. Farriss, Hutchence) 6:06